Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1887-09-23

good-byes Perhaps the most affecting
thing of all was to witness Umslopogaas'
distress at parting with Elossie, for whom
the grim old warrior had conceived strong
affection. He used to say that she was as
sweet to see as the only star on dark
night. and was never tired of loudly con.
graduating himself on having killed the
Lygonani who had threatened to murder
her And that was the last we saw of the
pleasant Mission-house-a true oasis in the
desert-and of European civilization. But
often think of the Mackenzies, and won
der how they got down country, and il
they are now safe and well in England,
and will ever see these words. Dear little
FIossie! / wonder how she fares there
where there are no black folks to do her
imperious bidding, and no sky-piercing,
snow clad Kenia for her to look at when
she gets up in the morning. And so good
bye to Flossie.
After leaving the MissiOn-house we made
our way comparatively unmolested past
the base of Mount Kenia, which the Nasal
call "Donyo Egere," or the 'speckled
mountain, +" on account of the black patches
of rock that appear upon its mighty spire,
where the sides are too precipitous to allow
OF the snow lying on them, then on past
the lonely lake Baringo, where one of our
two remaining Askari, having unfortun-
ately trOdden upon puff adder, died OF
snake bite in spite of all our efforts to save
hun Thence we proceeded a distance of
| about a hundred and fifty miles TO another
magnificent snow-clad mountain, called
Lekakiscra, which has never, to the best
Of my belief, been visited before by Eu
| ropean, but which cannot now stop to de-
scribe There we rested for a fortnight,
and then started out into the trackless and
uninhabited forest of vast district called
| Elgumi In this forest alone there are
more elephants than I ever met with or
| heard of before The mighty mammals
| literally swarm there, entirely unmolested
| by man, and only kept down by the natural
| law that prevents any animals increasing
| beyond the capacity OF the country they
| inhabit to support tkem. Needless TO say,
| however, we did not shoot many Of them,
| first, because we could not afford to waste
| ammunition, OF which our stock was get
| ting perilously low, a donkey loaded with
| It having been swept away In fording
| flooded river; and secondly, because we
could not carry away the ivory, and did
not wish to kill for the mere sake of slaugh-
| ter. So we let the great brutes be, only
| shooting one or two IN self-protection In
this district the elephants, being unac-
| quainted with the hunter and his tender
mercies, would allow one to walk up to
| within twenty yards Of them in the open,
| whitley the stood, with their great ears
| cooked for all the world like puzzled and
| gigantic puppy dogs, and stared at that
new and extraordinary phenomenon-man
| Occasionally, when the inspection did not
| prove satisfactory, the staring ended in
| trumpet and n charge, but this did not Of
| ten happen. When 1t did we had to use our
| rifles Nor wore elephants the only wild
| beasts in the grent Elgumi forest. All
| sorts Of large game abounded, including
| liOus-confOund them! / have always
| hated the sight of lion since one bit my
| leg and famed me for life. AS n cOnse-
| quence, another thing that abOunded was
| the dreaded tsetse fly, whose bite is death
| to domestic animals Donkeys have, to-
| Eethcr with men, hitherto been supposed
TO enjoy peculiar immunity from its at
| taCks; but all have to say, whether it was
| on account of their poor condition, or be-
cause the tsetse in those parts is more
| poisonous than usual, | do not know, ours
| succumbcd to its onslaught. Fortunately,
| however, that was not till two months or
so after the bites had been inflicted, when
| suddenly, after two days cold rain, they
all died; and on removing the skins of sew
ernl of them, | found the long yellow
streaks upon the flesh, which are charac-
teristiC of death from bites from the tsetse,
marking the spot where the insect had in
serted his probOsCis. On emerging from
the great Elgumi forest, we, still steering
northwards, In accordance with the in
formation Mr.. Mackenzie had collected
from the unfortunate wanderer who reach
ed him only to die 50 tragically, struck the
base, in due course, of the large lake, called
Lnga by the natives, which is about fifty
miles long by twenty broad and of which
it may be remembered he made mention.
| Thence we pushed on nearly n months
| journey over great rolling uplands, some
! thing like those in the Transvaal, but di-
versified by patches of bush country.
All this time we were continually as
| conding ut the rate of about one hundred
| feet every five miles. Indeed, the country
was on n slope which appeared to termin-
| ate at u mass of snow-tippcd mountains,
| for which we were steering, and where we
| learned that the second lake, of which the
| wanderer had spoken as a lake without Il
| bottom, was situated At length we ar
| rived there, and ascertainng that there
1CdS large lake on the top Of the noun
| tains, assembled three thousand feet more,
| till we came to preCipitous cliff or edge,
| to find great sheet of water some twenty
| miles square lying fifteen hundred feet be-
! low us, and evidently occupying an extinct
| volcanic crater or CrGters OF vast extent.
| PcrCeiviug villages on the border of this
lake, we descended with great difficulty
| through forests of pine trees, which now
clothed the PERCEPTIONS sides of the crater,
! and were well received by the people, q
| simple, unwarlikc folk, who had neyef
seen or even heard of a white man before,
| and treated us with great reverence and
! Kindness, supplying us with as much food
| and milk rs we could eat This wonderful
and beautiful lake lay, according to our
| aneroid. ut a height of not less than II $50
feet above sea-level, and its climate was
| quite cold, and not ut all unlike that of
England. Indeed for the first three days
| of our stay there we saw little or nothing
| of the scenery on account of an unmiStak-
able Scotch mist which prevailed 1t was
| this rain that set the tsetSe poison work
ing in our remaining donkeys, so that they
all died
| This disaster left us in very awkward
| POSITION, Us VIC ulu now no means OF trans
| port whatever, though, on the other hand;
we had not much to carry. Ammunition.
too, was very short, amounting to but one
hundred and fifty round of rifle cartridges,
and some fifty shotgun cartridges. How
| 60 get on we did not know; indeed it seemed
| 10 us that we had about reached the end
| of our tcther Even il VIC had been in
! clined to abandon the object OF oar search,
! which, shadow aS it was. was b. no means
| the case, it was ridiculous to think of fore
ing our way back some seven hundred
miles 10 the coast in our present p ght, so
| we came to the conclusion that The only
! thing 10 be done was 10 stop where we
Were-the natives being so well disposed.
and food plenuful-for the present, and
abide events and try to collect information
as To the countries beyond.
Accordingly, having purchased n capital
log canoe, large enough to hold us all and
our baggage, from the head mar of the
village we were staying in, presenting him
with three empty cold-drawn brass cart
ridges by way of payment, with which he
was perfectly delighted, we set out to
make tour of the lake in order 10 find the
most favorable place to make camp. As
we did not know il we should return to